In an op-ed for the Huffington Post, Professors Brad Borden and David Reiss discuss recent civil suits filed against banks regarding their liability for losses following the collapse of the subprime market. In particular, they make the case that none of the individuals who are likely responsible for the financial collapse have faced criminal charges due to the fact that most of their actions remain legal.

Prof. David Reiss

They criticize the inaction of prosecutors, arguing that “the fact that prosecutors across the country have not gone after more of the individuals within the organizations that sold bad mortgage instruments and who oversaw the machinery that produced millions of terrible mortgages is disconcerting… Its participants should account for their roles in that destructive pursuit. If prosecutors continue to refuse to proceed on general criminal charges, the IRS should move forward with criminal investigations for representations parties made with respect to arrangements that could not qualify for claimed tax treatment.”